Groups back Olentangy open-meetings appeal

A pair of good-government groups is backing an Olentangy school board member in his quest for a
court ruling that his fellow board members violated Ohio’s open-meetings laws.

Common Cause Ohio and the League of Women Voters of Ohio this week filed a
friend-of-the-court brief asking the Fifth District Court of Appeals to
overturn a ruling by a Delaware County judge.

School board member Adam White
sued four board members, claiming they violated law by exchanging emails and
phone calls that constituted an illegal private meeting.

Common Pleas Court Judge Everett Krueger ruled in a January
opinion that the four school-board members had no prearranged discussion and
that no public business was arose in the emails.

White has appealed, arguing that Krueger misread the facts and did not liberally apply the law
in favor of government openness. White contends the phone calls and emails amounted to a decision
to later approve a policy that he opposed.

Carrie Davis, executive director of the League of Women Voters, said, “Public deliberation means
that that the public has an opportunity to hear discussions of policy. Deliberations
conducted by email and decisions made outside of the public eye are simply bad public policy and
violate Ohio’s Sunshine Law.”

In its brief, Common Cause and the League of Women voters wrote that unless the decision is
reversed, “…all public bodies throughout Ohio will be allowed to conduct all public business in
private provided they later ratify such private deliberations at a public meeting. That outcome
would eviscerate the clear language and legislative intent of the statute.”